Costa Rica stands out in Central America as a functioning
democracy with a smaller than usual difference between rich and
poor.

When the Spaniards arrived they didn't plant it with aristocratic
estates. Instead farms were small and isolated and run by people
who had to look after their own livings. There were no easy riches
in the form of gold so that the Spanish colonial administration
largely ignored the country. There were also few natives there
when it was found by the Europeans.

Independence came in 1821. In 1822 it was part of the Mexican
Empire. From 1823-38 it was part of United Provinces of Central
America.

Honest democracy is said to have began in 1890 when there
was an election and power peacefully passed from one party to
another. After an attempted coup in 1949 and a short civil war
the army was abolished and its functions transferred to a National
Guard under civilian control.

At present it is a more prosperous country than all its neighbors,
though it has a large foreign debt, a rapidly increasing population
and an economy which is tending to stagnate.

The economy consists of medium sized business and is not dominated
by large landholdings as found in much of Central America. Cattle
grazing, coffee, tropical fruits as well as temperate crops provide
a varied economy. Perhaps these are the conditions which have
favored democracy.

Costa Rica is the site of debt-swap programs in which foreign
debt is canceled in exchange for protection of tropical forests.
This is a possible method of protecting forests in other tropical
countries. The rationale is that the ecological services provided
by the forests - climate control, carbon absorption, medical
potential, species diversity - are of benefit to the whole world
and therefore should be paid for by the rest of the world.